Wednesday, September 11, 2024

 

Companions of Old Age

Morris Bishop, Ronsard: Prince of Poets (1940; rpt. Ann Arbor: The University of Michigan Press, 1959), pp. 113-114 (Odes 4.13, lines 1-12):
So my youth has reached its end!
I've no store of strength to spend,
My head is white, my teeth are black;
Thin red water in my veins
Warms me little, nor sustains
Sinews dissolute and slack.

Adieu, my lyre; adieu, my dears,
Darling girls of careless years,
Adieu; my frolic days have fled,
And after all youth's jubilee,
There's nothing now will comfort me
But a good fire, and wine, and bed.

Ma douce jouvence est passée,
Ma première force est cassée;
J'ai la dent noire et le chef blanc;
Mes nerfs sont dissous, et mes veines,
Tant j'ai le corps froid, ne sont pleines
Que d'une eau rousse en lieu de sang.

Adieu ma lyre! adieu fillettes,
Jadis mes douces amourettes!
Adieu, je sens venir ma fin;
Nul passetemps de ma jeunesse
Ne m'accompagne en la vieillesse
Que le feu, le lit et le vin.
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